WASHINGTON - Former Israeli leader Ehud Barak, who came close to a final peace pact with Palestinian President Yasser Arafat, said on Tuesday he now wondered whether his old peace partner and Nobel laureate was a "terrorist."

Reflecting on events in the Middle East and the role of Arafat, Barak told reporters, "He looks like one, he walks like one, he quacks like one. Maybe he's really a terrorist."

He added: "And it's about time that we tell the truth ... about his behavior to be able to draw the conclusions, whatever they might be."

Barak's comments reflected the depth of suspicion plaguing Israelis and Palestinians as Washington seeks to restart peace talks that came close to success under former President Bill Clinton, before the September 2000 eruption of sustained Middle East bloodshed and Barak's election rout the following February.

Deadly suicide bombings and other attacks by Palestinian militants, and Israel's interception of an arms shipment it says was ordered by Arafat's Palestinian Authority from Iran, have further hurt hopes of progress at the negotiating table.

Barak was speaking during a visit to the United States after talks with Secretary of State Colin Powell that the State Department said were at the Israeli politician's request.

Barak said for a decade, Israeli and American leaders had tried to give Arafat an opportunity but now, "We should be realistic ... with both feet on the ground."

Powell has said he has seen evidence of Palestinian Authority involvement in the arms shipment but not of a link to Arafat himself.

Arafat has denied knowledge of the weapons shipment and ordered the arrest of three Palestinian Authority security officers accused by Israel of attempting to smuggle in the weapons in violation of the 1993 Oslo accords he signed, which won him the Nobel Peace Prize.

The United States has avoided blaming Arafat directly for the shipment.

State Department spokesman Richard Boucher maintained this approach at a news briefing on Tuesday, but added, "There are people at senior levels in the Palestinian Authority who are involved in this and we think he bears a responsibility for accounting for what happened."

Barak, like Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, however, blamed Arafat, saying he had taken a direct role "to the extent that he would order a shipment of equipment from Iran". Nampa-Reuters